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Update:
- The 11th Circuit affirmed a $2.67 billion settlement agreement made to resolve claims health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield engaged in anticompetitive practices.
- A federal court in Alabama previously signed off on the settlement agreement.
- Several class members argued the settlement agreement did not compensate them enough given the alleged antitrust violations.
- Home Depot, Topographic Inc., Employee Services Inc. and several individuals objected to the settlement.
- Blue Cross had been accused of dividing the United States into service areas and limiting competition among its members and outside insurers as a way to allegedly drive up costs for its own health insurance subscribers.
Blue Cross Blue Shield settlement payout overview:
- Who: Plaintiffs who opted out of a prior $2.67 billion settlement filed a new class action lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield.
- Why: Plaintiffs argue the settlement agreement does not properly compensate them for the alleged antitrust violations Blue Cross Blue Shield committed.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Florida federal court.
(Oct. 1, 2021)
Litigants who opted out of a $2.67 billion Blue Cross Blue Shield settlement payout that ended allegations of Sherman Act violations have filed their own class action lawsuit in Florida federal court.
Plaintiffs say the Blue Cross Blue Shield settlement payout doesn’t compensate them enough for the alleged violations, namely that the company used anticompetitive practices to drive up costs for its own health insurance subscribers.
The settlement concluded a class action lawsuit filed in 2013 alleging that 36 Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) organizations divided the country into service areas and limited competition between members and also from outside insurers.
Those who opted out of the BCBS settlement say that, while they concur with the court’s ruling that BCBS conduct should be viewed using a “per se,” standard, the agreement does not adequately compensate them given the antitrust violations BCBS committed.
“The plaintiffs have paid substantial sums directly to these entities in the form of inflated premiums, and they have paid substantial sums to third party medical providers as result of the defendants’ actions in the form of inflated deductibles, co-pays, and other expenses,” states the class action lawsuit.
A “per se,” standard of review dictates that innately anti-competitive behavior is illegal, regardless of any possible marketplace justifications, according to Law360.
The agreement also stipulates that, among other things, BCBS must end its “National Best Efforts Pact,” which requires members to obtain a minimum of two-thirds of their revenues from Blue-branded services, regardless of possible available alternatives.
Blue Cross Blue Shield settlement payout, terms not sufficient, according to objectors
Plaintiffs who opted out of the settlement agreement claim it does not go far enough to stop BCBS from engaging in poor conduct.
“The defendants have engaged and are still engaging in per se illegal market division and per se illegal output restrictions,” states the class action lawsuit. “The plaintiffs seek to enjoin an ongoing conspiracy between and among the BCBSA and the Blue Plans to allocate markets and impose output restrictions in violation of the prohibitions of the Sherman Act.”
Plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial and requesting any legal or equitable relief the court deems just and proper, in addition to the court enjoining BCBS from engaging in antitrust and anti-competitive behavior.
Do you agree that the $2.67 billion settlement is not proper compensation for Blue Cross Blue Shield’s alleged antitrust violations? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by Michael Gulisano of Gulisano Law PLLC.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield settlement payout class action lawsuit is Hoover, et al. v. Blue Cross And Blue Shield Association, et al., Case No. 1:21-cv-23448, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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293 thoughts on11th Circuit affirms $2.67B Blue Cross antitrust settlement
Let me see if I am getting this straight. Those who opted out are included in a new case? So that means the same or yet another class settlement administrator gets access to everyone’s details?
I asked to be removed, rather than excluded, so my name should not be on any list.
Has anyone received payment for this class action BCBS? JW because I signed up for it. Still waiting……..,
I paid 1500 a month for bobs insurance. For over 10 years.
These companies are terrible. Hold off work on getting more
I filled out these claims and then was hacked and went and changed all my usernames, banks, credit cards closed them. Can’t find my paper with the claim number. So I don’t know if they tried to contact me or not. I would think they would of got ahold of me by mail. I have a new email address now.
If you have been cyber attacked, then you have bigger problems than the BCBS settlement. I would not go around worrying about a payment that will likely never come. The most you would ever have seen would have been less than $12 anyway.
This sort of thing is common for class action cases. Remember the Yahoo case. ? The lawyers got about 40 million, the consumers got nothing. Remember the Equifax cash or free monitoring plan? They only set aside 20 cents per class member.
Class actions were invented by lawyers for their benefit, not yours.
Never received a penny or credit monitoring from Yahoo and Equifax??? That is a total joke. My husband received a check for $5.21 last week and so far, I have gotten nothing. Allegedly a link was supposed to sent to credit monitoring and neither of us ever received that either. I have emailed twice and have gotten the auto response. The attorney’s are laughing all of the way to the bank. :(
You can call the People working on the settlement and get your claim number! I did!
I don’t remember opting out. I did try to file, but I could not locate my account number. No one with Blue Cross Blue Shield would help me find my account number either. So, I was unable to file. I had Blue Cross for many, many years.
Has ANYONE received anything from this lawsuit yet ? I filed a claim but haven’t heard anything since .
No. Snd I can’t seem to get any information about the payout which should have happened 6 months ago.
With regard to the original settlement; the settlement finished six months ago and nothing went to any of the class members who were not self-funded. I would not hold my breath if I was you.
It was estimated that the average payout would be less than $12 – costs of issuing a check, etc. If your share was less than $5, you do not get a check. There is a slim chance you might have $5 or so coming one day, but do not count on it.
If you opted out, your name and location are on the public record. I just looked. There is no “Jennifer Bingham” on the list. The public record is on the site set up by the settlement administrator.
All this stuff is public record. Just look it up.
Was this every settled? I have not received anything to this day
It was settled and the claim deadline was Nov 5, 2021. Most class action checks are mailed 30-90 days after the deadline. Being that most class members will see less than $12, and the cutoff payment is $5, it is likely that you will see nothing.
Oh, sorry I was referring to the original case. This is the follow on case. As far as I know this only applies to those who opted out of the original case before the opt-out deadline.
This guy is lying thru his teeth. What happened was in February 4th, 2022 the judge said that employers needed another notice to inform them of their rights to opt out. And while they couldn’t claim if they missed the Nov 5th deadline, they had until May 4th 2022 to opt out and join the new lawsuit, sue themselves, or be done. So the case has never been ruled on by a judge and no checks or monies of any kind have ever been dispersed. Most likely the judge will rule in fall and we may see checks end year or beginning 2023. I hate assholes like the lot on here that read and n article them want to lie to so many cause it feeds they’re ego, by pretending to know more than you or that they are smarter. Clowns I tell you. And that $12 figure is wrong also. As that article where everyone asshole on here has gotten that figure lumped the individual claimants into the self funded pool. Which the self pool is like $120 million and with about that as a guess made by the writer of that article, he said a little less we’re insured. But he should have taken the amount of claimants, he said 150 million, and $175 billion with it being divided by 150 million and you get around $1165.00 or $1200 off the top of my head. And that’s if it was split evenly which it won’t as it is based of the total premiums paid by an individual, as well as the amount of these premiums. Then they have a formula that supposedly scales for these and a few other factors. So my guess if you are an individual who’s in the billion pool, the range will be a couple of hundred dollars and some receiving a couple of thousand dollars.
Which is something and far more than these liars and losers who claim no one got Jack and checks have been sent. Bastards. Good luck to the honest ones and those who lie just to feel better, suck a dxxk
Good looking out. Thanks for the truth.
When do I get money?
Everyone is getting less than $5 so no checks were sent out for this one. So don’t expect any money from this claim it’s not happening.
And you know this how?
Everyone this isnt for the original lawsuit so nobody has info on this one this is for the new lawsuit that only people who opted out of the last could go ahead and do, we took our own legal action since that last settlement will probably only be a 10 dollar check once it’s all divvied up among you guys.
Has anyone received payment for this class action BCBS? JW because I signed up for it. Still waiting……..,
Folks, listen to what “Opted Out” said. If your name is not on the document: Case 2:13-cv-20000-RDP Document 2812-6, then you are not opted out, and you cannot get anything out of this.
Just go to the official web site, and look at the document. See if your name is there.
Opted into the lawsuit and did so online, well ahead of the deadline, yet never heard a word from that point on. No confirmation, much less any info whatsoever on the case. I’m expecting to be compensated since I am aware that an agreement was reached and the funds were headed for escrow. When are these funds going to be paid?
There will be no payment for the original case. The lawyers got $600 million. Most of the rest went to the employers and those who were self paid.